Are Wellness Apps a Superficial Attempt to Avoid the Fears in Life?

Our ancestors held on to talismans, sacred items to help, heal and save them from danger and disease. Are modern-day wellness apps nothing more than that, talismans?

America’s health care system is in crisis precisely because we systematically neglect wellness and prevention. — Tom Harkin

Strapped to our wrist or hanging dongle-like from a belt, little bits of technology promise to engage us in maintaining our wellness or fitness. Is that truly what they do, or is it an illusion based on simple biologic readings that may not apply?

Do these 600 and counting apps soothe, save or create anxiety in our persistent checking? Have we been sold yet another modern talisman?

Download the app! When you see that appeal, mandate, whatever, what happens inside your mind and your body? Are your eyes riveted on the reasons why you need it?

Do you question if you should download it? Is it free, or do you need a subscription, or is that not entering your thought processes right now? So many questions, so few answers.

“The global mHealth apps market size was valued at USD 40.05 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.7% from 2021 to 2028.”

The significance of that profitability can’t be ignored, so prepare yourself to be inundated with information that will motivate you to buy or terrify you if you don’t.

Fear is one of the prime motivators of ads. David Ogilvy and his cohorts knew, and their rules are still effective today.

Are any of the following elements found in that ad for a wellness app?

• The ad evokes fear or concern
• It offers specific ways for overcoming the fear
• The recommended method for overcoming the fear is easy to achieve

Yes, you can overcome that fear and concern by making a simple purchase of this dazzling new app that will keep you on track for maintaining your health. References to “research” may be used, too. Who did the research, and was it peer-reviewed?

The Magic of Ownership

Downloading a fitness app for your phone or watch means you have now placed yourself in the universe of owners. But being an owner and benefitting from it is quite different. Some app providers have noted that not all downloaded apps are used.

What did they say paved the path to hell? Yes, good intentions. In this instance, it’s not eternal suffering but perhaps a modicum of guilt.

Considering these little bits of nudging technology reminds me of a research project years ago in Asia. Population control was a major issue,, and healthcare workers' scores were sent out to villages to cajole women into using birth control pills. Women accepted the packets.

Months later, the workers went back to the villages where the birth control medication was distributed and found there was no effect on births; they remained the same. Were the pills ineffective? No, the women believed that having them was sufficient, and they placed them on shelves in their homes.

How many people who buy fitness apps continue to use them for months or years, gaining real benefit from them?

Why Do We Want These Apps?

Abraham Maslow had a hierarchy of five tiers of needs or motivation, if you wish to call it that. He believed that we needed to achieve certain things in our lives before we could realize our true talents, self or self-actualization.

While he named basic physiological needs, safety needs (a roof over our heads for one), love and belongness and self-esteem prior to the ultimate achievement of self-actualization, he never mentioned health. But can we see that as “safety from illness?”

Jokingly, I used to tell my college students how to remember this hierarchy in simpler terms. I’d say: You need a ham sandwich, a place to eat it, a honey who loves you and who bolsters your self-esteem and then you go on to achieve your true gifts in life.

It worked. But where was the idea of fitness or health? Other than that, there were faults in the hierarchy. The tiers were always dependent on things that weren’t necessarily reliable. Maslow did note flexibility was needed.

Jobs are not lifelong and management can be fickle, so the ham sandwich is in jeopardy. Mortgages or rents can’t be paid as a result or they go up over your ability to pay (safety is in jeopardy). Honeys are unpredictable and may leave you on a semi-constant search for a stable one. Lose the honey and what happens to your self-esteem? You may find yourself on a continuous Sisyphus-like struggle.

Are apps the modern-day worry beads chasing off the fears that lie deep within us and helping us with our anxiety? Is the fear of death what really motivates us to buy apps?

Without question, the pandemic has had a significant influence on fitness apps and our fear of death. Not necessary more time on our hands, but the prospect of illness leading to death in those less healthy may have driven purchases.

What Are Studies Showing?

One study of fitness apps noted the connection between fitness apps and COVID-19 and questioned if, once the immediate threat is over, will the fitness trend continue? Will my purported fear of death as an incentive no longer be relevant?

…future studies could focus on how the Covid-19 pandemic changed users’ behavior regarding health apps and the likely long-term implications for the health of consumers and the nature of the fitness and health markets.

In this study, we investigated health consciousness as a moderator of CI (continued intention). However, we did not investigate whether health consciousness has a direct influence on users’ CI.

But fitness apps aren’t used regularly all year long. Motivation or interest appears to fall off seasonally. “Fitness app usage correlates with seasonal workout habits! The holiday season marks the lowest activity, followed by a peak in January (after people have made their New Year’s resolutions).”

One study with teens who had FitBit wristbands showed that they stopped exercising.

Dr. Kerner comments: “Our data suggests that peer-comparison was a key factor in undermining levels of competence and autonomous motivation. There wasn’t a desire for our participants to be more active for themselves and their own goals, or for fun, it was simply because they wanted to beat their mates. Self-determined forms of motivation are much better in encouraging people to engage in a particular behaviour. One problem was failing the 10K steps daily and the lack of a more personalized approach to fitness.

Will fitness apps continue to be a benefit to anyone who uses one or will the fever for continuing cool once the current pandemic is under control? Of course, manufacturers could fall back on Ogilvy’s formula and warn of future pandemics to keep people continuing their use.

Never underestimate the power of advertising or politics.